Drunken Nights
by jennybug52
Summary: Everything's a mess, and nobody likes to be alone.
1. Chapter 1

The sound of the news playing on the TV trickles softly out to the balcony where Tony Stark takes another sip of his scotch. He gazes silently over the busy city beneath him, not noticing how night had fallen hours before. The cool side of the glass, and the burn of scotch in his throat, distracts him from thinking about anything in particular as time passes slowly by.

Eventually when he goes to sit up and the world around him sways, Tony takes a final swig of his glass to head back inside. He pushes away from the balcony railing and opens the door back into stark tower. Pepper definitely wouldn't approve of his excessive drinking if she was here. She'd tell him to stop, to take a shower and sleep. But she wasn't here, and Tony was finding it hard to function without her in his life.

Tony had eventually driven her away like everyone else. In the end, destruction was Tony's only legacy. The merchant of death, he thought bitterly as he swayed back inside the lounge room.

Tony sat his glass of scotch on the coffee table in the lounge room, and crashed on the couch, to uncaring to put himself to bed. The couch was uncomfortable, and when sleep came he didn't dream. By the time he woke up he felt no more rested than before, and his head was pounding from the alcohol.

He stayed motionless on the couch, finally moving when he decides to get another drink. He groans standing up and walks grudgingly over to the bar.

He was halfway through pouring himself a drink when noise from the kitchen startled Tony, and the fog from his brain cleared enough to realise there should be no one else in Stark Tower. He puts the half full glass down and treads carefully towards the sound.

"JARVIS, lights" Tony said, stopping to cover his eyes from the sudden flood of light. He gingerly lowered his hands, stepping forward and glancing around the kitchen.

He stopped suddenly, any last bit of fog clearing from his brain. There was a huddled form on the floor of the kitchen. His kitchen.

Tony approached slowly, unsure on what the hell he was supposed to be doing right now. The pale form was battered with varying degrees of healing cuts and bruises. He knelt down, poking the mans side. The mass of limbs whirled to life, jumping back and fixing Tony with a furious look.

Well shit, Tony thinks. It's Loki.


	2. Chapter 2

Loki's eyes widen upon noticing Tony, and the god clutches his side and shifts backwards on the floor. Tony freezes in place at this gesture, all rational thought and witty quips flying far away at seeing the evident fear displayed on the injured god's face. He finds it immediately unnerving that Loki looks more surprised to see him than he is to see Loki, it's his bloody tower and his now bloody kitchen for crying out loud. Tony glances at the wound Loki holds, and, from what he could see around his spider like fingers, blood flows freely from a gash.

He allows his eyes to wander over the injured god, cringing at the sea of bruises he finds. Loki's ankle looks twisted at an odd angle, and he notices bones all to visible against the battered skin. And, yeah Loki looks thin. He doesn't remember him ever looking particularly muscular, but this was different. There were bones prominent in places they simply shouldn't be, and Loki's skin was pale enough to compare to ice. He looked like he'd been through hell, and Tony's blood ran cold at the thought.

He was still admittedly a little hungover, and Tony realised he mightn't exactly be in the best state to be making important decisions about immortal psychotic gods, but he still found himself shuffling closer the god on the floor. Loki fixed him with a glare to beat Nick Fury as soon as he got close, and Tony saw him try to get further away, wincing in pain as soon as he pushed against the ground.

"Um, I just want to check your..." Tony trails of, gesturing at the bleeding mess on Loki's side.

Loki narrowed his eyes even more at Tony, but he says nothing as he got closer.

He glances at Loki's face contorted with pain, and hesitantly reached towards his hands. Tony gently tries removing the hands from his side, taken aback by the bloodied mess he found.

"Damn reindeer games, what happened to you" He whispered, barely audible despite their silent surroundings.

He should call SHIELD. He really should. It would be stupid to let Loki stay here. Tony sighs, rubbing his forehead. Loki looks pretty messed up, and from what Tony knows of SHIELD they aren't going to go any easier on him.

Tony leans back, furrowing his eyebrows together. "What the hell are you even doing here?"

Loki's glare faltered slightly, and he opened his mouth as if to say something only close it again. Tony sent his own glare over at Loki, grudgingly pushing himself of the floor to grab the first aid kid Pepper left behind in his kitchen.

Tony had no idea why the hell was he helping the homicidal lunatic. He opened the cupboard door, pulling out the unused first aid kit. Flipping the lid open on the container revealed only pain killers and band aids, to which Tony decided wouldn't help the fallen god at all.

"Well?" Tony asks again, turning back towards Loki. "If you don't start talking I'll just call Fury to pick you up"

The god glanced back up at Tony, something glistening in his eyes. "Why haven't you already?" Loki responds, voice hoarse, and his face twists at the sound of his own voice.

"You look like shit" He responds simply, walking back out of the kitchen. "I'm being nice"

Loki laughs bitterly, coughing up blood. "I see no reason why you would help me. I blew up New York, murdered countless people and threw you out of a window"

"And that dear" Tony starts. "Is why we can't have nice things"

Loki tried to straighten his back, leaning back against the counter, only to make a noise that sounded awfully like a whimper.

Tony stops, standing in the living room. Loki was seriously hurt, it would be inhumane to knowingly hand him over to people that were going to hurt him. He tried to remind himself that Loki wasn't human, he was a god. A God that had destroyed countless lives, including agent Coulson's.

If the circumstances were any different he would probably hand Loki over without a thought. But here the God was on his floor, broken, bleeding and bruised, and Tony couldn't bring himself to hand him over to SHIELD.

He couldn't exactly help the God either. Tony knew some basic first aid, of course, but Loki looked like he needed a hospital and Tony couldn't take him to one for fear that someone might recognise the person that tried to enslave the world. That would be an awkward conversation.

"How long would it take you and your godly magic powers to heal?"

"My more prominent injuries should be gone by the morning, if I could rest for the night"

This was a bad idea. "If I let you stay here for the night, you wouldn't murder me in my sleep, right?" Tony says.

Loki's brows furrowed together, something akin to distrust showing in his eyes. "If you were to give me shelter, there would be no cause for me to hurt you"

Good enough. "Then you can stay here. For one night. Don't get comfy, don't even begin to think this is going to be a regular thing"

"Deal" Loki responds, and if he was grateful, he certainly wan't showing it.

Tony still had to address the issue of what he was doing with Loki for the night. He glanced around the room, he wasn't going to get him to a bedroom.

He sighed walking over to Loki. "Let's get you to the couch for the night"

Tony knelt down beside Loki to help, but the god refused his help trying to stand by himself. Despite some slips, Loki stood up gripping the counter tightly.

"You look like your about to collapse, come on" Tony says, gripping under Loki's shoulder, despite his protests, and helps him to the couch.

Loki collapses on the couch, his eyes falling shut immediately. And, well, that was weird. He doesn't exactly have a long term plain for this, but he never had one before and it turned out all fine.

He looked down at Loki's face, considering how younger the god looked when he slept. The tense expression was gone, Loki looked every part the Disney prince he was probably supposed to be, and Tony found himself smiling about it as he walked to bed.


End file.
